Here are today’s headlines from the 2006 election race:

Governor

(Wichita Eagle) Immigration splits candidates: The emotion and impact of illegal immigration, once only a border-state issue, brings sharp divides to the race for Kansas governor. The candidates agree on little besides securing the country’s borders, cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants and making English the state’s official language. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the Democrat incumbent, supports certain provisions for illegal immigrants such as in-state college tuition rates and the ability to obtain a driver’s license for insurance purposes. Republican Jim Barnett, a state senator and physician from Emporia, opposes granting those privileges.

(49abcnews) Barnett says Kansas needs job growth: Senator Jim Barnett calls himself a true product of Kansas. A fourth generation Kansan, Barnett grew up on his family’s farm, and graduated from Emporia State University. He later went on to serve 8 years on the Emporia Board of Education, and says education would be his number one priority as Governor.

Attorney General

(Garden City Telegram) Law enforcement considers candidates: The race for the Kansas State Attorney General’s office is heating up in western Kansas with several area sheriffs torn between Paul Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney and Democratic Party challenger, and Phill Kline, the Republican Party incumbent.

(AP analysis) GOP moderates have trouble buying whole Kline package: For the past decade in Kansas politics, Phill Kline has represented a problem for moderate Republicans, because they haven’t been able to get a Kline they can accept without voting for a Kline they dislike. Their problem is especially acute this year, as Kline, a conservative Republican, seeks a second term as attorney general, needing votes from the moderate GOP wing, independents and other swing voters. Now, moderate Republicans can’t keep state government’s second most important elective office in GOP hands unless they reward a candidate who’s run the roughest campaign Kansas has seen in at least a generation. It raises a natural question: Will a Kline victory encourage more of the same?

2nd District Congress

(KC Star) Candidate hopes to ride on the Democratic wave: Republican Jim Ryun defeated DemocratNancy Boyda by 15 percentage points in 2004. So why – just two years later – would Boyda be optimistic about her chances to defeat a Kansas icon in a Nov. 7 rematch for the state’s 2nd District seat in Congress? Boyda thinks because she has name recognition, something she didn’t have two years ago. And, perhaps more importantly, she stands to benefit if a predicted Democratic surge throughout the nation comes true. Political observers agree that although a Boyda victory is a long shot, it’s not out of the question.

Other election news

(Topeka Capital-Journal) Candidates want your vote, but do they always get to the polls? If sifting through the voting history of candidates on the November ballot proves anything, perhaps it is that they are a lot like the rest of Kansans. A tad forgetful on Election Day. Sure, they want your vote, but occasionally — or sometimes consistently — they have been known to let an election slip by. Among them, candidates for the state’s highest office, governor, have missed a vote (Democrat Kathleen Sebelius) or more (Republican Jim Barnett). Even the man who oversees elections for the state — secretary of state Ron Thornburgh, a Republican — has missed an election. In fact, of the 32 candidates who area voters will see on the November ballot, just four have a perfect record going back to 1997. Among them is David Haley, a state senator, challenging Thornburgh.
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